GIANTS WIN!!!!!! 

(Pictures from SFGate.com)

I grew up in the Bay Area. The 49ers won 5 Super Bowls in my memory, the first when I was in first grade.

This World Series win by the Giants seems so much sweeter, so much more amazing, for having to wait so long.

My maternal grandparents were born in SF in 1909. They were 49 years old when the Giants came west in 1958. Grandpa passed before the loss to the A's in 1989, Grandma before the Series loss to Anaheim in 2002. I'm sure they were watching last night.

I remember 'You Gotta Like These Kids' and 'Humm-Baby' when Robby Thompson and Will Clark came up, with new manager Roger Craig in the mid-80s.

I went to the Old Timers' game in 1987, a 'reenactment' of Game 7 of the 1962 World Series. Willie McCovey hit one into the upper deck in right field at the 'Stick - 10 feet foul, 20 feet away from me. Oh, and Mike LaCoss pitched 10 shutout innings to beat the Dodgers, 1-0.

I remember listening to the NLCS on a transistor radio, on a Boy Scout camping trip, in 1987. Jeffrey Leonard hit 4 home runs in the first 4 games, earning the MVP, but the Giants lost.

I remember having to put up with my friends, all A's fans, after the A's swept the Giants in 1989.

I remember the Giants winning 103 games in 1993, but not even making the playoffs. I still curse San Diego for trading Fred McGriff to Atlanta.

In 1997, I owned the only "San Francisco Giants - 1997 NL West Champions" t-shirt in Macedonia. And I'm pretty sure I remember not liking Edgar Rentaria very much after Florida swept the Giants in the NLDS.



I like him a lot more now.

I was in the stands in Seattle in 2001, when Barry Bonds hit #41, and then in SF when he hit #73, in a game that was rescheduled because of 9/11.

I remember dancing in my living room when the Giants went up 5-0 in Game 6 in 2002 - and then being crushed when they lost it all.

Last season, I got to watch the 9th inning of Jonathan Sanchez' no hitter, thanks to AFN and an 11 1/2 hour time difference.

This summer, I trucked my two oldest kids from North Carolina to DC to their first Giants game. The Giants won, with the new kid, Madison Bumgarner getting the win.

And I remember the bad years from 2004-2008, with losing records. But some of those losing records became the high draft picks that became this some of season's heroes - Cain, Lincecum, Bumgarner, and Posey.

This season, and especially this postseason, has been great. To all the Giants - thank you.